


Scrambled Words to the Line of Love

by zestiie



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Anxiety, Cole has a learning disability, Cole is big sad, Comfort fic, Dyslexia, Jay comforts him, Learning disability, M/M, past bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27812746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zestiie/pseuds/zestiie
Summary: Coles secret, his little secret he kept after he graduated high school. His secret he kept to himself and to never speak of again to anyone even his best friend. The struggle with this secret and not slipping up. This was his secret from his teammates from the people of Ninjago. The moment when he walked up on that stage, his speech for the city he knows and loves, his nightmare from we he was twelve came crashing down on him again.
Relationships: Cole/Jay Walker
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	Scrambled Words to the Line of Love

“Hey guys.” Lloyd walk out into the living room where all the ninja have been sitting. He was going through outfits he had in his closet. The blonde not being able to decide what outfit he should wear. All the ninja looked at Lloyd, giving their full attention on him now.

“I have no idea which outfit I should wear to the party, I don’t know if y’all can give me some opinions?” 

Lloyd held both outfits in each hand. Both standing out and looking very nice.

“Ohhh, I love the deep forest green one Lloyd!” 

Nya hopped off the spot on the couch she was sitting in and walked towards the tall grown male. Her holding one of the outfits she liked the most against Lloyds body, to get an idea of what it would look like on him. 

“Nah, I think the forest green is a bit harsh and boring, I like the army green more to be pacific.” 

Cole said as he pointed to the other outfit in Lloyd’s hands. Kai turned his head back to look at Cole in the face, soon a confused and some how amused look on the brunette appeared. 

“You’re kidding right?” Kai giggled a bit.

Cole looked down at his short teammate, the master of Earth confused on what Kai was talking about. Was it his opinion that Kai didn’t agree with on the outfit Lloyd should wear.

“You said pacific instead of specific.” Kai laughed at Coles face.

Cole getting flushed a bit. And everyone’s attention is now on Cole and the conversation Kai had started.

“I don’t get what you mean.” Cole said.

“You said pacific, instead of specific how- how can you mess that up?” 

“I didn’t say that.” Cole retaliated, his face getting more heated, he can feel embarrassment running to his face. All Kai did was laugh at Cole and this action from Kai making the Earth ninja feel worse about himself. He didn’t know what to say, he felt like if he said anything else he’ll make himself look stupid, his dyslexia would make him look stupid. Cole got up from his seat and walked out of the room, his anxiety staring to rise and he knew it would continue to rise if he stayed in that room any longer.

Nya looked at Kai, seeing her brother still laughing as Cole had already left the room in shame. The water master pulled Kai by his hair, making him yelp at the sudden action. 

“Ow, ow, ow, ow— Kai started panicking, seeing his sister giving him eye contact.  
“Uhhh hi.” A cheeky, awkward grin forming on the master of fire. 

“What do you think you’re doing!” Nya yelled in Kai’s face, the brunette looking away from her in fear, he could feel the embarrassment Cole was feeling early now. It biting him right in the ass. Jay got up to check on Cole, he would have loved to stay and watch the show of Nya yelling at Kai like he was some annoying little child and nag him to death, but he wanted to make sure if Cole was alright more. 

As Jay made his way down the hall, some how the yelling grew louder from Nya, and Jay hearing a loud ‘ow’ coming from Kai. Jay laughed at that and shaking his head.

“Kai you absolute moron.” Jay laughed to himself.

He made it in front of Coles door, peaking his head to see Cole face first into his bed.  
The master of lightning opened the door all the way and made his way to sit next to Cole on the bed. 

“Hey buddy.” Jay chirped. Cole rose his head up to look at his friend just to dramatically plop it down into the pillow again. The man slowly threaded his fingers through his friends thick black strands of wavy hair. It felt so soft, it was some how messy but it didn’t feel messy and it didn’t look like the bad type of messy hair, more a messy cute. 

“You doing okay Cole?” Jay asked softly. Still messing with his best friends hair.

“What does it look like.” Cole said, his voice being muffled by the pillow he had his face in. 

“You know Kai didn’t mean what he said, he was just playing with you.” 

“It’s annoying— Cole sat up next to Jay. “He literally embarrassed me in front of you all again.” A sigh left the noirette, he looked around his room. Eyes roaming from all corners. Jay opened his mouth like he was going to say something but soon close it. The two just sat there not exchanging words. 

“Question though Cole, why do you keep messing up your words?”

“Huh?” Cole look right at Jay, fear filling him up. 

“Like, I’ve noticed you do that with your writing as well.”

“I’m just tired Jay, that’s all. I don’t get sleep you know that. It’s just me being sleep deprived.” Cole stated blankly. Cole can see Jay wanted to say something more but kept his mouth shut.

“I kinda want to get some sleep, we do have a big party to be at tomorrow.” The noirette tried to changed the subject, so the awkward feeling in the room could hopefully leave.

“Yeah, you’re right. Especially don’t want you to be sleep deprived tomorrow.” Jay joked. The two of them laughed, Jay throwing a playful punch to Coles arm.

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Jay reached for the door closing it almost half way before he turned around to look at Cole.

“Night.”

“Good night Jay.”

Soon Cole saw his friend disappeared when the door shut. He soon laid back down, closing his eyes shut.

“I’m not ready for tomorrow.”

❣️

Cole stared at himself in the stand up mirror, his reflection looking right at him.  
He truly wasn’t really on board with this party the mayor was throwing for them for saving the city for the millionth time. He didn’t like the idea of loud and crowded places, just thinking about it triggered his anxiety. 

What made things worse was all the ninja where gonna give a speech, it was Wu’s idea. And how so much he hated that idea, he knew he’ll mess up some how and everyone and the people of Ninjago will figure it out. 

“Hey Cole, you ready!” Jay shouted wrapping his arms around his best friends neck and smooshing his face into the master of Earths shoulder. 

“Y– yeah, I’m ready.” Cole said, he was shaking now. He could feel his anxiety rushing throughout his blood. Jay took notice of this and pulled back.

“You sure you’re okay?” Jay made eye contact with Cole, eyes looked worried for the noirette. Cole brushed all of his feelings off.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m doing great. Just have a bit of the jitters.” 

“If you say so.” Jay said, not very convinced with Cole.

The Earth ninja felt fear, his anxiety was racing through him. He knew he couldn’t do this he wished he could have just stayed home in bed. He was up next to give his stupid little speech, he felt sick to his stomach. Cole looked up seeing Kai walk up next to him nudging his shoulder to let him know he’s next.

Cole walked up to the post and the microphone. He had his papers in hands, he took a deep breath. Collecting himself.  
His eyes widened, the amount of people who showed up was nerve racking. Cole looked at his paper, his eyes growing larger. All the words and sentences he wrote all becoming scrambled and mushed together.

“Umm.” Cole hesitated. He started shaking again.

“No- no! This can’t be happening now please not now.” Cole yelled in his head.

His eyes started to water looking at the crowd. A memory hit him like a truck, making his heart get caught up in his throat. Making him want to cry all over again. 6th grade middle school. The crowd turning into all his classmates, and the laughs and name calling rushing through his memory again.

❣️

Cole sat all the way in the back of the class, the boy doodling in his note pad he had. Sketching out characters that came flowing through his head, making up stories to take him to another world that no one had seen before. A place that took him away from reality. The noirette saw his teacher walk in, trying to get all the students settled down.

“Okay, students. Today is the day you all get to present your reports to the class.” 

Cole sunk in his seat, putting his head down on his desk. His leg started shaking vigorously, that weird feeling Cole got but he didn’t know what to pin point it to be. He kept his head down hiding his face, he hope, he so hope he didn’t have to go up today. Hoping he’ll run out of time today or making the excuse of not doing his work... again.

Cole felt a tap on his shoulder, he looked up to see one of his classmates. The student pointed up to the front of the class.

“Cole, do you have your report?”

“I, umm. I for-“

“He has it right here!” Cole looked to his side, seeing the boy who called him out. A snicker left. Cole felt helpless.

“That’s wonderful! Come on Cole sweetheart why don’t you come up here and present to us what you’re report is about.” 

The noirette took a deep breath and got up from his seat and made his way to the front of the class. He held his paper tightly making it all crumbled up now. He stood next to his teacher, her leaning on the desk.

“So Cole, what’s your report about?”

“Oh y- yeah, tha- th- that.” Cole felt flushed, red running to his cheeks and his leg started shaking again. He looked at his classmates, his eyes darting from side to side on the sea of students. 

“My report was on, wh- why, umm, we- we need to... uhh take care of o- our planet.” Cole stuttered his words. He could hear some giggles coming from his classmates, it making him more anxious and making his anxiety to rise more. 

“Cole sweetheart you’re okay?” Cole got startled as his teacher placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. This made the noirette drop his paper and it sliding under a students desk. 

“No- no- no!” Cole thought.

One of the boys grabbed the paper from the floor, Cole could see the boy scrolling his eyes from the paper, signing Cole that he was reading what he wrote. Before Cole could do anything the boy started laughing.

“Look guys! Cole Brookstone doesn’t know how to spell!” The boy shouted in the class, he started tossing Coles report around the class. All the kids starting to read it. Coles teacher got up and started yelling at the students to give Coles work back to her.

“Okay, now all of you stop this!” She shouted.

“Cole can’t spell, Cole can’t spell— soon all of the kids started joining in, pointing their fingers all at Cole. “What, else is next? You can’t read?” The boy mocked Cole and everyone else in the class laughed while the teacher tried to get everyone to stop. Cole could feel tears run down his face, he tried to take his over sized sleeves of his sweater and wipe away the tears that left his eyes but they just kept coming the more his class mates called him out for not knowing how to read or write properly.

❣️

Cole stood in front of Ninjago city and it’s people. 

“Hey Cole, spssst, you need to talk dude.” Lloyd whispered shouted to Cole. The master of Earth had tears running down his face, his first call was to run and that he did. The noirette ran off the stage without a warning leaving everyone behind him. 

“Cole, Cole!” Jay shouted out to his friend, but he never turning back.

“Where the fuck is he going?!” Kai shouted.

Jay looked out at the crowd of people. Everyone with confused looks on their faces. People leaning in whispering to each other. Jay turned back to the direction Cole had ran to and follow after him, Jay needed to figure out what happened to Cole.

The ginger walked through hall after hall in the rather large building. Checking every room and floor he can to find his best friend. Jay was worried, he wanted to know why Cole froze on stage and just stayed blank in front of the city. He had a speech written out the night before, so Jay didn’t understand what made Cole freak out like that.

The lightning ninja, kept looking around. He soon heard soft sobbing? Jay was confused, he heard it coming from the balcony door. He reached for the handle and slide the door open to see Cole sitting on the small bench. Jay walked towards his friend, approaching him slowly not wanting to startle him.

“Hey Cole.” Jay said gently.

Cole looked up his face red and puffy.

“Wow he really was doing a lot of crying.” Jay thought to himself.

He sat down next to the Earth ninja, Cole looking out at the city night and the light of the buildings all lit up. The noirette had a stuffy nose now, his eyes burning as well. The two just sat there for awhile in silence just enjoying the view right in front of them, until Cole spoke up.

“I’m sorry Jay.”

Jay looked over at Cole, the man had his head hung down. The obvious shame and embarrassment he was feeling right now. The ginger wrapped a arm around Cole, rubbing his hand in circles on his best friends arm to comfort him. 

“Cole what happened? What... what made you run off like that?”

Cole didn’t answer only looking away from Jay.

“Cole please.”

Cole could hear the worried-ness in his best friends voice, he couldn’t do that to Jay he was only trying to help him. The Earth master look at those heterochromia eyes staring right back at him. 

“I— I have, umm— Cole looked down at his hands. He took a deep breath. “I have dyslexia.” Cole finally blurted out in thin air. He sucked in his breath, worried for an answer.

“That’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“It’s okay Cole. That doesn’t change anything, it just your brain is wired differently from most people.” 

“Jay, that’s not the point though. I’m just stupid, I don’t even know the basics every first grader would know— Cole started to vent to Jay about the problem.

“Jay for crying out loud, I don’t even know basic math—“

“Is that why before you go to the store you always ask me to double check if you counted the money right?” Jay asked.

Coles face dropped a bit, he nodded his head looking away again. All he could feel was shame, he felt embarrassed. He felt like a complete idiot in the bag that was for sure.

“It’s just... I’m not smart Jay, I’ve never been smart, I never will be.” 

“Oh Cole, come on don’t say that.”

“It’s true Jay... I’ve came to that fact a long, long time ago.”

“What made you run off stage though completely.” Jay pulled Cole closer to him, giving him a smile of comfort.

“Just a memory from when I was a kid pop in my head when I was on stage, it felt like 6th grade all over again— Jay sat up a bit more, letting Cole know he’s listening. 

“Having your classmates call you out on your learning disability, calling you names, making fun of you, for just being slower to process reading, writing, math, slower than them all together. Using the wrong words when you speak. Just being a big walking flesh of stupidity— Cole started crying again.

“Having all the names they could call you following you up till you’re an adult, and you still believing every mean and hurtful word in the book. My father was stressed with me not doing well when I was in school, my grades plummeted to the dumps, that’s why I took to art to escape from the reality of the world. Felt like the only think I was good at.”

Cole had his head in his hands, more tears began to run down his face. He just felt so stupid.

“Hey, hey, Cole, no don’t cry. There’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.” Jay tired his best to comfort Cole, and giving him confidence in himself. Jay was the last person he knew who liked seeing Cole upset, it genuinely hurt him. Cole was struggling with something he didn’t know about.

“Cole look at me please.” Jay asked, his voice sounding desperate. All he wanted to do was help his best friend, his best friend he liked a lot, a lot, lot. The noirette looked at the ginger again. A smile on Jay’s face as he leaned his forehead against Coles, the other man getting wide eyed. 

“I don’t care what you think Cole, you are smart in your own way. You shouldn’t let anything from your past affect you, you’re not alone. I’m here if you need me and I’ll always, always be there if you need help— Jay looked at Cole in the eyes very deeply. 

“I love you Cole.” The two just sat there silent, their foreheads still against each other. Cole could feel he face heat up a bit, the man never thinking he’d be in a situation like this ever, especially his best friend. 

“Thank you Jay.” Earth ninja said. Jay smiled and pulled away. 

“Of course Cole, and never forget what I said, I mean it.” Cole genuinely smiled, he felt happy and safe. 

Shortly after a harsh blow of wind hit their way, making Cole shiver a bit. The noirette leaving his jacket in the main area down on the first floor. Jay took notice of this, and started to take his jacket off.

“What are you doing?” Cole asked.

“Giving you my jacket.”

“What? Jay no.”

“Oh calm down will ya, you need it more anyways.” Jay said and flopped the jacket around Cole, the jacket being more oversized and how most of Jay’s winter and fall clothing alway have been larger for his body type. Not that Jay was tooth pick skinny, but slightly on the leaner side compared to Cole. While he had a bit more chub than the others on the team. 

Cole bother not to fight about the jacket and just accept it.

“Thank you.” 

Jay gave a nod and a smile. Earth master slumped in the bench and leaned his head against Jays shoulder. Jay not seeming to mind the contact from the other. The two just sat there for a bit more in silence, staring at the night sky and the city lights. All different bright colors all over the city, looked like a colorful wonderland.

“Jay.”

“Hmm?”

“I love you too.” 

Jay smiled, he leaned in a gave a small peck to Coles lips. 

“I’ve always wanted to hear that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was a comfort fic I wrote to make myself feel better since I have dyslexia and it does affect me a lot in many ways and I head canon Cole to have dyslexia as well. He’s one my comfort character, and again head canon Cole with dyslexia is a comfort thing to make myself feel better, and I had to add my fave and comfort ship as well bruise!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Scrambled Words to the Line of Love(PODFIC)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28458723) by [WhaleKingdom (BadFeelin)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadFeelin/pseuds/WhaleKingdom)




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